EFCC Arrests Former Kano Speaker For Alleged N1.5bn Fraud

Former Kano State Speaker, Isiyaku Ali Danja has been arrested by the Kano State Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of 1.5 billion naira funds meant for constituency projects.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesman of the EFCC, Tony Orilade, said Danja was arrested after the commission received a petition alleging diversion of funds meant for payment of tax liabilities to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) by the state government.

The former speaker’s arrest comes a few days after the state’s Commissioner for Special Duties was also picked up by the anti-graft agency for alleged N86 million naira fraud.

According to the statement, the over N1.5 billion funds were diverted and misappropriated from the sub-treasury account of the state government.

Part of the statement reads: “Several suspicious payments were allegedly traced to some beneficiaries, including some made to Allad Drilling Limited, a company in which Ali-Danja is the sole signatory to its accounts.”

“Investigation by the EFCC further revealed that the funds were on several occasions personally withdrawn in cash by the suspect, while he was the only one who could officially state whether jobs were done before any payments could be made

“It would be recalled that the EFCC had earlier arrested the Commissioner for Special Duties in the State, Mukhtar Ishaq, for allegedly diverting funds meant for Kano Municipal Local Government while he was chairman of the said local government.

“Mukhtar was arrested by EFCC following a petition that alleged that while he was chairman of Kano Municipal, he diverted funds meant for projects, development and empowerment of the people,” it concluded.